Rudy Giuliani Is Still a Colossal Seven-Letter Word

We once ran a profile of hizzoner Rudolph William Louis Giuliani. It was called "Rudy Giuliani Is a Colossal Asshole." It was true when the story ran — but that was thirteen long years ago. Here's Rudy speaking yesterday on the issue of Park51, aka Cordoba House, aka, falsely and inflammatorily, the Ground Zero mosque:

The question here is of sensitivity, of people's feelings, and are you really what you pretend to be ... If you want to claim to be the healer, then you're not on the side of the person who's pushing those divisive issues.

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I was the first person on September 11 to step forward in the heat of battle and say, 'No group blame, do not blame Arabs, it's a small group.' But the reality is that, right now, if you are a healer you do not go through with this project. If you're a warrior, you do.

Didja catch that, readers? Do you see what's Rudy's up to here? An Argument is being established. A Talking Point is taking root. A Meme begins. Support of Park51 is an act of war.... It's Park51 supporters who are "pushing those divisive issues." Park51's backers are only pretending to be peaceful. This is not a matter of universal rights, it's a matter of personal feelings. Ours have been hurt. They must atone.

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This is, without the slightest stretch, straight out of the Mein Kampf playbook. Tell the Big Lie. Tell it about a minority. Tell it often — and the right has been, ever since Palin's "peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate" tweet — and thereby drive a nation to refudiate its founding political principles for your private political gain.

It is impossible to overstate how vile this Big Lie is. By its logic, failure of "peaceful Muslims" to move the project is an act of direct participation in a war on America. And moving the project would be an admission of proxy responsibility for 9/11. What a devious Catch-22. And what a perfect trap for the increasingly nativist right to spring. As Matt Duss puts it:

This goes quite beyond "pressing for something more from Muslim Americans." It asks Muslim Americans to acknowledge the validity of the idea that the presence of a mosque at that location is an affront to those murdered — including the Muslims murdered — on 9/11. And while it's important to understand the deep emotions involved, the idea that Muslims bear collective guilt for 9/11 is simply not valid, no matter how "thoughtfully" phrased.

Oh, yes, but Rudy was the first to say "no group blame." Therefore we should ignore him when he calls for group blame.

Allow me then to say that Rudy Giuliani is not an asshole and does not deserve a kick in the teeth. Know what I'm sayin'?